Especially satisfying outing this morning. Three browns of varying lengths (smallest = 12″, largest = 19″) came to my articulated Olive Zoo Cougar in unfamiliar water south of North Stratford, N.H.

Last time I had fished this area was two or three years ago, and it is pretty much the last piece of water that can be had for wading as the river journeys south, to my knowledge.

All three fish hit the ZC forcefully, as I was employing a Kelly Galloup-esque “jerk – strip” technique. Just realized that there are lots of double entendres there for you all to digest …

Found this along the bank - assumed it was Chuck's "Baby Doll" pattern for lunker brown trout ...
Found this along the bank – assumed it was Chuck’s “Baby Doll” pattern for lunker brown trout …

Needless to say, it’s pretty beat up now and I’ll have to stop by Chuck DeGray’s North Country Fly Shop for a couple more. Chuck is undoubtedly the master of this way of fishing in this part of New Hampshire, and he has quite a supply of big, feathery flies for big trout.

On the Connecticut River’s “Trophy Stretch”, the fishing continues to be fantastic lately – lots of trout and some salmon are in there, waiting for a bump in the water level.

Sounds like caddis and blue winged olive patterns are best if you’re trying to match the hatch, but make sure you bring your stonefly patterns along too – they are also a major piece of the food puzzle for our trout and salmon.

If you’re nymphing exclusively, you’ll also want to have some Egg patterns as well as San Juan or Goomie Worms – some of the stocked fish are particularly susceptible to attractor patterns.

Looks like we have some stormy weather coming tonight and tomorrow and then a few days in a row of beautiful weather.

Get out there – summer’s a wastin’!